Amazon pushes shoppers to its own brand before clicking ‘buy’

Amazon has introduced a new feature that markets its private-label brands right before consumers add rival products to their shopping carts.

The Washington Post conducted dozens of product searches and saw offers for a “similar item to consider” featuring an Amazon brand appearing just above the area where shoppers click to add a purchase to their cart.

The boxes reportedly touted lower-priced Amazon versions of everyday items.

“It’s an ad at exactly the moment the customer is ready to buy,” James Thomson, a former senior manager in business development at Amazon and now a partner at brand consultancy Buy Box Experts, told the Washington Post. “I don’t see how that’s not unfair.”

Amazon defended itself in a statement to the Washington Post,  the promotion to the way any store would push its own private-label goods.

“Like any retailer we promote our own brands in our stores, which provide high-quality products and great value to customers,” Amazon spokeswoman Nell Rona told the paper. “We also extensively promote products from our selling partners.”

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